Bloody Hail

I've been sitting in my office for the last 20 minutes watching the sky get darker and darker. I even went around the office to remind people to save their documents if they hadn't done so for a while. We have a major sub-station on campus and quite often get black and brown outs or power spikes in storms. But then there started the ominous thumping sounds on the roof. My office is straight under the flat tin roof of our building and it sounded like someone was lobbing oranges on the roof. But it reality it is golf ball size hail. The hail is now intermittant in the rain. Of course, I went out at lunch to buy thread for my tea towel project and had to park in the bottom car park. I picked the most exposed spot in the whole place. I hope there is only body damage.

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Saturday Rooster Started

Here is the second last one. Tried to get another towel at lunch time for Sunday, no go. I will have to try after work.

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Friday Rooster Finished

Friday Rooster done.

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Friday Rooster Nearly Done

The Friday Rooster is nearly done. I just have the "Friday" to do. Then just Saturday and Sunday to have the set finished.

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Thursday Rooster Finished

This is the finished Thursday Rooster.

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Thursday Rooster Started

The next one in the series. I need to buy some more tea towels. I thought I had them all but I am short three. Must remember to buy them tonight.

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15th Century Embroidery Inside Manuscript

I found this while surfing around the other day. From the very limited info on the page, it is a small piece of 15th Century silk embroidery found on the inside of a manuscript. The manuscript is held by the New York Public Library. Search for: embroidery flyleaf

Details are: Needlework attached to flyleaf.
In: Renaissance and medieval manuscripts collection, ca. 850-ca. 1600. > [Hours, use of Rome] (created ca. 1480 )
Library Division: Humanities and Social Sciences Library / Manuscripts and Archives Division Item/Page/Plate Number: f. ii verso
Specific Material Type: mss. text
Subject(s): Embroidery, Holy Shroud
Digital Image ID: 425878
Digital Record ID: 248110
NYPL Call Number: MA 31

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Wednesday Rooster Finished

The Wednesday Rooster is finished. I am trying to get the whole set done as my sister is coming for a visit and it would be nice to give them to her while she is here.

NOTE: I am having to repost this post since it was wiped out when I tried to use the Performancing Firefox extension to post to the blog. Might want to give it a miss.

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Getting Notes in Order

Nothing exciting to report, other than I finally have all my notes, printouts, photocopies etc in a sembalance of order. They are all in nicely identified folders. Some require some more internal tidying up, but at least they aren't in a two foot high pile in the middle of the room anymore. I feel virtuous!!

Next thing to do will be to printout my EndNote report for all the stuff I have and work out what has been printed and what hasn't. I need to start printing out everything incase something bad happens.

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Modelbuchs

This post is prompted by a comment by Pam over at Kitty and Me Designs. She mentioned that the first charted patterns were published in 1804. This isn't quite correct. (Although the patterns she is talking about are presented in a much nicer format).

Modelbuchs or modelbooks are the name given to the early printed patterns books that became widespread in the mid-16th Century. Most are divided into two or three sections, in no particular order.

The first type resembles modern crosswork patterns. They are worked on a grid in black and white. They could be used for any number of counted-work techniques, such as long-armed cross stitch to produced Voided or Assisi work or needlepoint. An example from Paganino:

Here is my version of this pattern, done in silk in long-armed cross stitch:

The second type is designed for making needlelace, a forerunner of modern bobbin-based laces. An example from Paganino:

The third is free form patterns, which could be used for a variety of things, including use on chemises or shirts or for goldwork on outwear such as bodices, doublets or capes. From Shorleyker:

or

Online modelbuchs:

• Federic Vinciolo - "Singvliers Et Novveaux Povrtraicts" - http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/vinciolo/
• William Barley. 1596 - "A booke of curious and strange inventions" (archived) - http://web.archive.org/web/20040101025203/http://www.infotrope.net/sca/texts/inventions/
• Richard Schorleyker, 1632 - "A Scholehouse for the Needle" (archived page) - http://web.archive.org/web/20040206052811/http://infotrope.net/sca/texts/scholehouse/
• Paganino Il Burato - http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/italian.html
• Giovanni Ostaus La Vera Perfezione del Disegno, 1561 - http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/italian.html
• Giardineto Novo, Punta Tagliati, Matthio Pagan, 1550 - http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/italian.html
• Christian Egenolf, Modelbuch aller art Nehewercks un Strickens. - http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books.html#E
  

Printed Modelbuchs - Modern Reprints:

• Bassee, Nicolas. "German Renaissance Patterns for Embroidery: A Facsimile Copy of Nicolas Bassee's New Modelbuch of 1568, with an introduction by Kathleen Epstein". Austin: Curious Works Press. ISBN 0-9633331-4-3.
• Gesner, Konrad. "Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts: A selection of 190 sixteenth-century woodcuts from Gesner's and Topsell's natural histories". New York: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN: 0-486-22701-4
• Hofer, Hans. "Ain new Formbuech'len der weyssen Arbeyt". Nieuwkoop, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1968. (Facsimile of the 1545 edition published in Augsburg)
• Nourry, Claude and Saincte Louie[sic], Pierre de. "Patterns: Embroidery - Early 16th Century". Berkeley, CA: Lacis, 1999. ISBN 1-891656-16-3.
• Shorleyker, Richard. "A Schole-House for the Needle: Produced from the original book printed in 1632 and now in the private collection of John and Elizabeth Mason". Much Wenlock, Shropshire: RJL Smith & Associates, 1998.ISBN 1-872665-72-1.
• Sibmacher, Johan. "Baroque Charted Designs for Needlework". New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1975. "This Dover edition, first published in 1975, is an unabridged republication of the 1880 edition of Newes Modelbuch . . . . Inn Druck verfertigt, a work originally published in Nuremberg in 1604. . ." ISBN 0-486-23186-0.
• Vinciolo, Federico. "Renaissance Patterns for Lace, Embroidery and Needlepoint (An unabridged facsimile of the "Singuliers et nouveaux pourtraicts" of 1587)". New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1971. ISBN 0-486-22438-4
• Newell, Kathryn. "Needlework Patterns from Renaissance Germany: Designs recharted by Kathryn Newell from Johan Sibmacher's Sch?n Neues Modelbuch, 1597". Boulder, CO: Costume & Dressmaker Press, 1999.

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Spring Cleaning

The cleaning bug has got me. I woke up early this morning, laid in bed for an hour listening to my iPod (which was on shuffle but picked a heap of my very favourite songs!). Then up and lots of housework. Dishes, kitchen, vacuuming (bought extra bags the day before), washing. Cleaned the front verandah up. It had been breeding boxes and rubbish. I tried to tell people it was a security precaution. If I made the place look like a dump, no one would want to rob it. But I don't think they were buying it. So now that the weather is warming up, I want to be able to sit on my nice chair in the hot weather. So I had to clean to be able to get to it.

Then it was over to Spotlight and I finally managed to get a couple of couch covers. I've been after them for a while, they had a really cheap set or a bit more expensive one. I ended up going for the more expensive one, because firstly it looked nicer and secondly, I think it will last longer. So now my two old and wore, non-matching couches look alot better.

And on a completely different note, Foxtel is finally getting a SciFi Channel!!

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Shopping For Shoes

I went shopping today. Got an early start, wanted to the beat the traffic as the shopping centre I was going to can be a bit of a nightmare. And can someone please explain to me the logic of the car park opening 5 minutes AFTER the shops open?

Anyway, I went for and got a pair of shoes. I am trying to improve the shoes I wear to work. Normally I live in my white runners, but I think I need to upgrade. So I got a nice pair of Sage Colorado wedge heal strappy things.

I also got season two of Miami Vice! Just need to get the second half of Season One back off my Dad so I can watch it!!

Got home and was very tired, but did a bit of washing. I also got the third of my Rooster tea towels out and did a couple of hours on it. Just the day to go on it. Then I am might start doing some of my bluebird set. I am going to alternate between bluebird and rooster.

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Anglo-Saxon Line Pattern 5

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Need Software

I need some research software. What I need is something that will allow me to create a record for an individual item, where I can list set details and include and image. What I want to do is gather all my info on specific embroidered items into one place. So that I can do a search an bring up all relavent items. I also want each record to act as a cover sheet for that item and all related printed material I might have about it.

Ideally what I need is a database of some sort. You would think that this sort of software is out there but I can't seem to track it down. Even a simple Access database would probably do what I want, but I'm no programmer.

So if anyone knows of something that might fit the bill (not EndNote or any other reference software, that really isn't what I'm after), then please let me know.

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Anglo-Saxon Line Pattern 4

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Anglo-Saxon Line Pattern 3

Based on Bayeux Embroidery.

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Anglo-Saxon Line Pattern 2

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Elizabethan Pattern - Leafy

Same rules as before, personal use, no commerical use or digital or other reproduction.

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Elizabethan Pattern - Puffball

Same rules as before, personal use, no commerical use or digital or other reproduction.

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Elizabethan Pattern - Peascod

Same rules as before, personal use, no commerical use or digital or other reproduction.

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Elizabethan Pattern - Pomegranate

Here is the second in the series.

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Pita Bread

Last night I made fresh pita bread. It actually turned out pretty good for a first go at bread making. I also made golzeme. Yummy.

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Elizabethan Pattern - Gillyflower

Don't know if anyone is actually using these, but here is another one. It is a Gillyflower, from the late Elizabethan/early Stuart shirt held in the Warwick Museum. The original is worked in stem stitch and blanket stitch in red silk on linen ground. Feel free to use this pattern for personal use. Not for commerical or digital reproduction.

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Sweetbag

Did about three hours on the sweetbag last night. Added the two leaves in the bottom corners for balance and started on the second half of the goldwork stems. I used a different imitation Japanese gold, the Kreinik one. Has a lighter gold colour and I think it worked easier than the gold thread I used for the first side. I am tempted to redo the first half of stems, firstly, to match the colour and secondly, it will have less breakage on the gold. I think I will leave the cheap stuff for couching work.

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Anglo-Saxon Line Pattern 1

This is for all those out there who are having withdrawals from the 100 Details Series. The following is a line pattern from the Bayeux Embroidery (there has been an offical name change). The original is done in stem stitch. Wool on linen. Tomorrow will be some Elizabethan floral patterns.

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Bathurst 1000

I had a pretty lazy Sunday. I went over for a quick visit to the Maritime Festival, but I think I got there a bit early. Did manage to get some gozleme for lunch. Yummy. Then I came home and put the Bathurst 1000 on. Normally, I'm not a big fan of car racing, but I've been to this race a couple of times in person, and it's the perfect thing to have on in the background on a warm sunday afternoon. I napped for a bit. I was hoping to get some more patterns for projects onto fabric, but couldn't get myself motivated. But I did dig the heavy weight linen out of the shed for the Malterer Hanging project. I actually had some left so I didn't have to cannibalise the lining of the dress.

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Let There Be Light

Dad and Sheila were down last night so we went out for tea down the RSL. And today Dad came round and fixed the light in the lounge room. It just needed a new socket, which Dad could do no problem, so I now have light again! I got out my sweetbag to do some work and I'd put in 3 stitches when Cleo decided she wanted a cuddle. I am running out of time for cuddles as the weather starts to warm up. So cuddling was given.

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A Pictorial History of Embroidery

Huzzah! I managed to pick myself up a copy of A Pictorial History of Embroidery for $100AU on Ebay. First time they listed it for $250, still a good price. But then he dropped it down to $100AU, I couldn't buy it quick enough. Not an impulse buy though. I've always had a price that I would go to for this book if I ever found it, and this was well within that budget.

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Back From Spring War

Spring War is over for another year. I decided to day trip because the whole hassle with the tent etc was just too much. I'm glad I decided to do it this way because as soon as the sun started to go down, I started coughing.

All of the A & S classes had attendance (except for T-tunics and Writing Documentation). The most popular were the Basic Embroidery, Tablet Weaving and Embroidery for Clothing - Anglo-Saxon. All the rest had one or two people in attendence.

The whole A&S Tabbards and Banners thing for the mercenaries was a bit of a disaster. The whole trying to heard cats problem. Next time, I will have to make sure I am there to do a bit of organising. It might help!

I will put up the notes for the new classes over the next week or so. I need to do some modifications to the Tablet Weaving one. I will put links here when they are up.

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Medieval Tiles

Got this website from one of the message boards I'm on. Le Carreau Médiéval (Medieval Tiles). The lady who makes the tiles also has a blog with lots of interesting posts, lots of 14th Century stuff.

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